Nadal awarded €12,000 damages over doping slur by former French minister

Tennis - 17 Nov 2017

Author: Callum Murray

Rafael Nadal, the top Spanish tennis player, has been awarded €12,000 ($14,154) in damages after Roselyne Bachelot, the former French sports minister, accused him of doping last year.

The ruling by the Paris court came after Nadal sued her, claiming that his reputation had been damaged. He had sought €100,000 in damages.

Bachelot, previously the minister for health and sport in France, alleged on pay-TV broadcaster Canal Plus that Nadal’s seven-month absence from tennis between 2012 and 2013 was “probably due to a positive doping test.”

The player himself cited tendinitis and a virus.

Nadal, who said he would donate the entire award to charity, added in a statement: “I intended not only to defend my integrity and my image as an athlete but also the values I have defended all my career.

“I also wish to avoid any public figure from making insulting or false allegations against an athlete using the media, without any evidence or foundation and to go unpunished.”